In Your Box. Dear Alice, I wanted to know how many days of rest is recommended between workouts. Thank You, G. Dear G. Happy trails,. Submit a new comment.
Contact Alice! Originally Published:. All materials on this website are copyrighted. Experts often advise those just starting out to run no more than three or four days per week. Aim for 20 to 30 minutes of activity on running days, two days of non-running workouts, and at least one rest day per week. As you build your endurance, speed, and aerobic capacity, you can begin gradually adding more running to your training.
You may want to start out running every other day. This will give you sufficient recovery time while you are building a running habit. You can either take a complete rest day or do another activity on your days off from running. But you also need to be careful that you don't let rest be an excuse for not running. You'll need to stick to a consistent schedule if you want to achieve your training goals and reach your desired fitness level.
If you're a more experienced runner, one or two rest days should be sufficient for injury prevention and recovery. As a rule of thumb, limit your total mileage to no more than 40 miles per week to reduce your risk of injury. Cross-training can help balance your muscle groups, boost strength, increase flexibility, and improve your cardiovascular endurance.
Some good cross-training activities for runners include:. Overuse injuries are often the result of doing too much, going too fast, or working too hard.
If you do choose to run every day or even most days, there are some important things you should do reduce the strain on your body. While rest days are important to prevent injury, running every day may have some health benefits. Staggering your running days with cross-training or complete rest days can be an effective way to enjoy the benefits of running while still giving your body the occasional break.
Whether you're looking to run faster, further, or just start to run in general, we have the best tips for you. Sign up and become a better runner today! Running as a key lifestyle medicine for longevity. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. Shorter term aerobic exercise improves brain, cognition, and cardiovascular fitness in aging. Front Aging Neurosci. Longevity in male and female joggers: the Copenhagen City Heart Study. Am J Epidemiol. Dalleck LC. The science of post-exercise recovery.
American Council on Exercise. If getting out the door for your Couch to 5K training is hard enough, then don't add on anything else yet.
You will find that as you do more and more running, your body and mind will start to crave your runs. Once you have your running habit well set, then you can add in cross-training. Remember that Rome wasn't built in a day and no new habit is formed in one week. So the basic answer to the question how often should I run is three to four days a week with some cross-training thrown in, if possible, and at least one day a week of rest.
And one last thing: remember to have some fun, even on those days when your run is on the tougher side. Find your next race. More Running Articles. Look for this banner for recommended activities. Cancel Yes. Join Active or Sign In. All rights reserved. Getting sick is no fun, regardless of the impact on your running. The only caveat is that being able to cross train can take some of the edge off Cross training vs. Best of luck and get better soon! I am so glad to have found this article!
Three weeks ago I developed posterior tibial tendonitis, four weeks out from running the Gold Coast Marathon now in 10 days time! In order to ensure I make it to the start line, I have had to slash my running kms from kms a week, running 5 times a week for the last 5 months, to only running once in every 3 days, maybe times a week max.
My HR has been averaging about 10bpm higher on my last couple of standard 10km runs at a pace which really should be fairly comfortable and now I am stressed I have lost all my fitness, with only 10 days until the marathon my first. Hi Nicola, I am glad you enjoyed the article and do sorry to hear about your injury problem.
Struggling the first few days back up to a week after an injury is normal as your body gets readjusted to running. I have seen and worked with many marathoners who have had more severe cuts to their training in the weeks before a race run well. I am training for the Gold Coast Marathon. I had been training consistently for I went to the physio last week, who performed some miracles and the pain was gone by the time I hopped off his table.
It is my first marathon, and I will be running it in five days. I am quite devastated that four months of solid training, where it was really feeling like it had all come together beautifully, could come to such a screeching halt.
I will be running the race, but am very concerned that I have lost fitness and muscle over the last couple of weeks.
It was always going to be a challenge, but now it will be even more so with a sore hip and decreased fitness. I found this article quite reassuring.
I typically run 7 or 8 miles 4 times a week and have recently been sent out of town for work that requires me to be gone for 2 weeks at a time. I have to admit that I thought my fitness level was going to severely suffer. After I was gone for the first two weeks I decided to just do an easy 4 miles when I got home, 5 the next day, and then I kicked it up to 7 every other day from then on.
Like you mentioned earlier, it seemed as though I had to get through 2 uncomfortable runs and by day 4 I was back on track. Muscle soreness for the first couple of days was the biggest issue. Does this sound typical? Thanks for sharing your experience. Muscle soreness and a little lethargy are common in the first few days after a brief time off from running. You should feel back to normal after that last harder run and be ready to start making positive fitness gains again.
Thanks for the awesome article Jeff! In my experience, doing running or good cross training basically eliminates the performance decline. Given that, I think 1. My advice would be to start doing a lot of core, leg strength and hip strength work.
This will speed the development of your running muscles. Then, you can push it on a few runs and try to go miles at once every other day. Yeah i just started some core training actually, will keep at it and dig in. Im panicked about running a relay next week because I have done more strength training than running. Minor Injury I have participated in Bootcamp which incoporates running including hill sprints. I ran my third Marathon at the end of may and am wondering I should take a pass.
Its been 10 weeks since the Marathon. Any thoughts or advice for this week? Tough question, Gina. Second, it all depends on what your goal for the relay is and how far the race is.
Hope that helps. Brilliant article, incredibly interesting stuff. On the 16th of this month I suffered a hamstring strain and have required heavy physiotherapy over the course of the past two weeks. My question however… It will be realistically 2. Sorry to hear about your injury.
Good luck with the rehab! My son is 15, ran for CC last year in his first year as a freshman, and was doing well in track last year M, M by mid season until a girl accidentally kicked his bare foot at the beach and broke his 5th metacarpal on March 23rd.
Had to wear a boot for 10 weeks, was not allowed to do any type of cross training, so all he did was some core exercises. Finally allowed to start running June 4th after 2 weeks of walking without the boot.
Worked back up to hitting 43 miles this week and feels well. Easy runs and long runs 8 — 8. Started doing some good VO2 max Interval work at Vdot of about past couple weeks and did first time trial on home cross country course today. Do you see anything that we could be doing differently to speed up the process a little without over stressing and causing injury? He really wants to set the school record as a sophomore as he goes to a small private school and the CC 5K record is only First, I think you have a great long-term approach for your son.
As for when he will start to feel back in peak, baseline fitness, I think that will happen when his mileage stabilizes and he gets one or two more hard tests like the time trial.
That, along with the workouts, should build him back to where he was before. As for helping the process along, one of the first areas to deteriorate when not running is the neuromuscular system. So, I would give him some explosive hill sprints times per week after his easy runs. He can also start doing some drills and light speed development work to help along.
Here are some links that explain those concepts a bit further:. Thanks for the helpful recommendations.
I sent you an e-mail inquiring about personal training and look forward to hearing back from you. I am training for Athens mararthon which is in 27 days. I have not run for 2 weeks and after gaining as much infomation as I can, I have decided to run it anyway. I fear I have lost 2 weeks training at a crucial time and now have to plan how to tackle my milage most efficiently with the 4 weeks remaining.
My last run was 20 miles — 2 weeks ago, which I felt great after — just a clicking right hip at times. It was many hours later that the pain set in, this was relieved with ice. Anyway thanks again, really informative. I have been training for a half marathon for a few months and had upto the 18k mark and was on plan to do it in uder 2 hours which is my goal. Went to a running shop for new footwear and got sold the wrong shoes.
Long story short, very bad blistering consistantly after a few runs, and out of action for a while. Got the footwear changed and although things improved i had a holiday to go on and then a very busy period with work and a new born to deal with.
I hadnt ran for around 3 weeks then got a 10k in still on track for 2hr and had another weeks not running. The half marathon is in 4 days and I am really not sure if i should be doing it in fear of causing any damage due to lack of training, so would welcome any advice you could offer?
My advice would be to focus on doing no harm. Start at an easier pace and then if you feel good the last k, pick it up and see if you can get under 2 hours. Listen to your body and if it starts hurting, slow down. Remember, there are always other races.
I have been running consistently for two years with an average mileage of 30mpw this year. I damaged my rectus abdominis lifting my 5 year old son and as a result have not been able to run for three weeks this is the forth. The injury is healing and I intend running this week end. I had been aiming for a finish time, is this totally unlikely now? Hey Jeff Great Article, it was very informative. I am a junior in high school and recently I suffered a injury to my foot that has kept me from running for 4 weeks.
Finally I ran in a 5k race today, and my breathing felt absolutely terrible throughout. I am a runner year round, my pr in the mile is and I probably run around 30 miles a week on average.
How long do you think it will take me to get back into good-pr shape. Sorry to hear about your injury, Sean. I think it will take about 4 weeks to get back into PR shape. Two weeks will be a bit of a struggle and then things will start to click again. After that, you should start to feel normal and make progress back to PR fitness.
I have stopped running for 12 days now, coming from a flu. I did my first 5k last September 23 at 30 minutes, and 10k run last September 30 at I continued my usual 5k run twice after that. Now I can be able to run again this Saturday, and this article gave me enough confidence, knowing that the day setback will not hit me hard. I have a schedule 10k run this October 28, barely a week to prepare for it. This article gave me an overview on what to expect coming from a 2-week slump.
Thanks for your article! Though I am at two weeks today with no running. I am working with a physical therapist. But I have been able to road bike and swim. This should help me with getting my running conditioning back I hope.
I also have a Sprint Tri in 3 weeks that I am going to do, but not kill myself. Do you think getting my running conditioning back will be easier with my other sports? This is my first ever injury and its killing me not running. The cross training absolutely helps. These figures were for people who did nothing during those periods of time off. Studies have shown that aqua jogging can enable a well-trained runner to maintain running fitness for up to weeks.
In one study , a group of ten runners trained exclusively with deep water running for four weeks and compared 5km race times pre deep water running and post deep water running. The researchers found no statistical difference in 5k time or other markers for performance, such as submaximal oxygen consumption or lactate threshold. In a second study , researchers measured the effects of aqua jogging over a six week period. This time, 16 runners were separated into two groups — one who did aqua jogging workouts and the other who did over land running.
Using the same training intensities and durations, the researchers found no difference between the groups in maximal blood glucose, blood lactate, and body composition.
This is a great article and made me feel more comfortable about my training. My training has been great up until two weeks ago after I ran my 18 mile long run. I finished the 18 fine, at my marathon pace, but the next day felt the effects of ITBS. Since that 18 miles run, I was only able to run 5 miles on Monday and 2 miles on Wednesday. I definitely think 18 will be long enough for a long run. Check out this interview we did about the best distance for the marathon long run.
I have been training for 22 weeks for the Dallas Marathon December 9th , which is now 10 days away. Today is my 5th day off and I still have some slight pain in my knee towards the front on the patella tendon , due to a 30 mile run last weekend. My most recent race was a 5k on November 3rd in which I ran My plan during training had been to run pace and finish in I am curious your opinion if I should change my goal to something like assuming I can get a couple runs in next week to feel sharp or still try for my goal pace?
I worry that going out at may kill me in the end if I have lost any endurance during my time off. I do think was my ideal pace before my 5 days off, but losing confidence the longer I sit on my butt. Your opinion would be greatly appreciated.
I would definitely slow your initial goal pace sounds reasonable. By racing this way, you set yourself up for a better race and the opportunity to finish strong.
You are correct, by starting too fast, you put yourself in high probability that the last 10k will be disastrous. Thanks for the quick reply and the good advice.
The video was a helpful reminder that progress will not always be linear and that every marathon will not be a PR. Excellent article indeed, thank you! About two and a half weeks ago, I pulled my hamstring -a level one injury it seems. I took 3 days off running and then went out for 5 miles at a slower pace, it felt tight at mile one but I kept running through the tightness. I rested from running for another 3 days and then went running at a similar slow pace for 5 miles again, this time the tightness kicked in at around 2.
I have been keeping this same on and off system until two days ago and the tightness is still there, so I have decided to give it a rest and not run for weeks.
After reading a bit of literature on the subject, I am concerned that I may have delayed the healing process by being so stupidly stubborn. I am also concerned about losing running fitness by having limited my runs in the first two weeks after the injury to suspending it completely in the next two weeks. Do you think the combination of a badly rested injury plus limited or no running for a period of a month will have a very adverse effect on my running fitness?
Either way, how long should I expect before regaining my pre-injury fitness -and will I achieve that given that I have not rested when I should have? Many thanks!!
Yes, I would have to agree that you probably delayed the healing process a bit and extended the time away from running so that it impacted your fitness. The first days will be rough, days are usually decent and you start feeling back to normal.
Best of luck with the rehab and comeback! Thank you very much Coach Jeff for your kind advice and encouragement. Question about coming back after time-off. To keep it simple, say one had consistently been running 1 hour 4x a week with alternative non-running activity on the off days. Due to injury, running ceased for 3 weeks but other activites continued while the injury settled-down. Now it is time to start back … how long and at what intensity is the first run and what would you propose as a rational build in hopes of getting back to regular running as noted above without significant risk of reinjury?
Look forward to your thoughts to make the most of the time-off without going immediately back on the DL,. Good question, Steve. The next week you can get back to running full mileage. Thanks for writing such a great article!
I had 2 coaches in HS for cross country that always guilted everyone if they took a few days off due to illness or injury, stating that all out hard work was gonna be gone, so old ideas were stuck!
Thanks for clearing so many misconceptions up. It really helped. I am 16 and I usually run 2 miles every day for fun, not for anything specific like a sport or anything. I also lift weights. If I take two days off in a row every now and then will that ruin my conditioning? I keep stressing because I am trying to put on muscle but I want to keep my conditioning too. The damn flu got me over the weekend and, since this is my peak training week before a short taper I ran 11 miles in the cold anyway..
I managed and then took my normal Monday off.. Tuesday early morning when the flu was probably at its worst I forced myself up 5 miles of mostly hills, running slower than I thought I was even capable of.. I want to pr next weekend half marathon. The best thing you can do is rest. Have the courage to give your body what it needs to race well, not have an impressive training log. I was worried when I got injured as I had to take 6 weeks off with no exercise.
When I started back I was amazed how much of my fitness remained. I was running pace over 6 miles before injury, first run back after 6 weeks off I was running pace. I would have thought the fitness levels would have been much worse.
I had been running for 2 years continous before injury. Super worried about my highschool runner. She was in great shape for the XC season, ran all summer and looked really strong. We had her iron checked and it was really low. Finally by the end of the XC season she was coming back and did very well at State Finals. However, over the winter she really lost interest in running all together, I could not encourage her at all to run to stay in shape for track season.
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